How Our Master’s Differs From an MPA

Focused on the broad range of nonprofit management activity, the Nonprofit Management program reflects the mission of the School of Professional Studies to prepare students, particularly those mid-career, for interdisciplinary, cutting-edge career fields.

The Nonprofit Management master’s program equips professionals to excel in nonprofit management careers, whether in international or community nonprofits, foundations, institutions of higher education, healthcare, or the arts, or as fundraising and development experts who work throughout the sector.

For students and professionals who wish to work with mission-based organizations providing some of the most fundamental and important services to our communities, Columbia’s M.S. in Nonprofit Management will prepare you for leadership roles.

With over $900 billion flowing through the nonprofit sector in one recent year alone, comprising 5.4% of the United States GDP and employing 10% of U.S. non-government employment, the nonprofit sector has emerged as a powerful economic engine. The growth of the nonprofit sector requires new policy considerations and sophisticated advocacy strategies. Nonprofit professionals now must be conversant with and utilize new technologies, digital media and data analytics to further their organization’s mission. International perspectives are more important to this sector than ever, with private/public partnerships being deployed to help solve some of the most intractable problems across the globe.

The increasingly sophisticated nonprofit sector now demands its professionals to have management skills tailored to the unique needs of this mission-based sector. The M.S. in Nonprofit Management at Columbia is your portal to mastering cutting-edge applications of management skills to this particular sector, as well as exploring current issues in policy, law, digital strategies, and risk management.

Choose Options Online and On Campus

The program may be taken part-time or full-time, and students have the flexibility of pursuing many courses on Columbia’s campus in New York City, or online. Some courses are available in a hybrid format offered partly on campus and partly online, combining the benefits of each.

No matter the course modality, students have access to rigorous, world-class instruction by Columbia faculty, group projects and activities, career and professional development, and personal feedback on assignments.

Online, students use a highly collaborative and interactive social learning platform to connect with their instructors and fellow students. All online courses have weekly live classroom meetings with their professors to enable dynamic interaction around course content. In addition, students may participate in discussion groups, complete collaborative and independent coursework, contribute to forums and live polling, and watch videos.

International students on an F1 visa may enroll in one online class each semester.

Guest Lecturers

In addition to instruction by the program’s faculty, the program regularly hosts high-profile industry executives as guest lecturers.

Who Should Apply

The program comprehensively addresses subjects important to experienced nonprofit professionals who want to pursue roles with increased executive responsibilities, career-changers, as well as for those new professionals who want to begin their professional journey in nonprofits toward senior development and executive leadership positions.